Facebook's cryptocurrency-based payments system could be huge

Facebook has been working on its own cryptocurrency for more than a year. Preliminary rumors suggested the initiative would initially focus on the remittance market in India but according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Facebook is preparing to cast a much wider net.

The Journal said Facebook is recruiting dozens of merchants and financial firms to help launch the platform. The social network is also said to be interested in linking the stablecoin to its core ad engine, using it as a loyalty program that rewards users for their active use of the service.

It’s a bold undertaking that comes at a tumultuous time for Facebook but if successful, it could be a huge boon for the social network and put pressure on other payment products like PayPal and Apple Pay.

Despite its privacy issues, the one thing Facebook has going for it is its size. With 2.38 billion monthly active users (nearly a third of the world’s population) as of March 31, Facebook has a tremendously large user base and lots of them are buying things online.

So, they forced us to not trust them with just our data. They think we will trust them with our wallet? Look for the next scam/scandal in the news. They are about due for another.

Yet another form of Monopoly money? Count me out. Perhaps this is the nail in the coffin for me to get off the platform. That is unfortunate as it helps me keep in touch with people I otherwise wouldn't have time or be able to.

Haha this is a good one. They have shown on a number of occasions that they cannot be trusted with users' data but now people are going to trust them with their money? Stable coin from facebook? Yeah right. You don't need to look further than tether and the company behind it to see how this is going to end.